The Darkling Team
Every Darkling Press story begins with a creator driven by imagination, passion, and a love for the shadows. Behind every novel, anthology, cover, and haunting world is a dedicated team of authors, artists, and storytellers committed to crafting unforgettable experiences for readers. From Appalachian folklore and gothic horror to supernatural mysteries and dark fantasy, each creator brings a unique voice while sharing a common purpose: to tell stories that linger long after the final page is turned. Meet the people behind the pages and discover the creative minds shaping the ever-growing world of Darkling Press.
Meet the Team
Ryven Black
Editorial Lead
H.A. Hutson
Founding Author
Social Media Management
Kayla Hodge
IT Support Specialist
Content Manager
Book Cover Design
Pending
Marketing
Meet Ryven Black
Ryven Black is the editorial lead of Darkling Press — the person who finds the writers who belong here and makes sure the door stays open when they arrive. Her editorial instinct is trained as much as it’s native: exacting where a manuscript needs precision, patient where a voice needs room to become itself.
Resposibilities
- Reviews submissions and leads acquisitions — deciding who joins the cooperative.
- Works directly with authors through developmental edits, line edits, and revision.
- Sets and holds the editorial standard across the press’s catalog.
- Matches authors within the cooperative around complementary skills and gaps.
- Serves as the public point of contact for editorial and submissions questions.
Experience & Background
Ryven’s path into editing ran outside the traditional pipeline. A certificate in developmental editing and more than a decade of freelance work, built almost entirely word of mouth among independent Appalachian and Southern gothic authors, sit behind her editorial eye, alongside hands-on experience helping several small presses build their editorial workflows from scratch. She’s spent her career close to the writers doing the actual work, rather than inside a traditional house looking down at it.
What Draws Her to Dark Fiction
Appalachian gothic and quiet horror, the kind that unsettles rather than shocks. She’s drawn to stories about the debts a place collects over time, and what happens when someone finally has to pay them.
Links
Editorial/Submissions: ryvenblack@darklingpress.pub
Meet H.A. Hutson
HA Hutson is the founding author of Darkling Press — the voice whose work gave the press its first shape — and the person behind its social media presence today. Raised in the backwoods of Southwest Virginia and still rooted there, she has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil, and her work moves between the literary and the paranormal as naturally as fog through a hollow at dusk. She doesn’t write villains. She writes consequences.
Resposibilities
- Writes and publishes her own catalog under the Darkling Press name.
- Runs the press’s social media voice and day-to-day audience presence.
- Represents Darkling Press in public and in-person settings as needed.
Experience & Background
Writing since childhood and never having stopped, she is the author of eight books — including Watcher on the Mountain, Lanier’s Run, Autumn Chills, Strange Relations, and Haunting Vengeance — along with countless poems, stories, and essays. Her background is entirely inside the writing itself: a lifelong Appalachian resident whose sense of place informs everything she publishes.
What Draws Her to Dark Fiction
Appalachian gothic and quiet supernatural horror — she’s always been more interested in what a place remembers than what jumps out of the dark. Grief, consequence, and the things that move into the space loss leaves behind are where her stories start.
Links
General Press Contact: ryvenblack@darklingpress.pub
What Draws Her to Dark Fiction
The darker side of Appalachia, with its folklore, forgotten stories, strange creatures, and the things people swear still wander the mountains, is what draws her in most. There is something fascinating about discovering the unsettling history hidden inside places that feel familiar, especially when those places are right outside her own door. Living in Appalachia makes those stories feel a little closer and a lot more terrifying; the woods are harder to dismiss when they’re the same ones you see every day.
Links
Design/IT Contact: kaylamdalton@yahoo.com
Portfolio: kaylahodge.net
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-hodge-69136790/
Meet Kayla Hodge
Kayla Hodge is the content manager and book cover designer of Darkling Press, the person behind much of what readers see when they step into its shadows. With a background in information technology and cybersecurity, she brings a detail-driven mind to the creative side of publishing, shaping everything from the Press’s digital presence to the covers that give each story its first face. She has a particular love for dark, atmospheric design and making sure every piece feels like it belongs unmistakably to Darkling Press.
Resposibilities
- Manages the technical infrastructure behind the press: site hosting, maintenance, and IT support.
- Designs and builds the Darkling Press website.
- Designs cover art for the press’s catalog, title by title.
Experience & Background
A recent graduate of Full Sail University, Kayla holds an Associate of Science in Information Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. Her technical education gives her the foundation to manage and support the digital side of Darkling Press, from maintaining its online presence and organizing digital content to troubleshooting technical issues and helping build systems that can grow alongside the Press.
Her creative experience has developed alongside that technical background through her work with Darkling Press. As Content Manager and Book Cover Designer, she helps shape how the Press and its stories are presented to readers through website content, visual branding, book cover design, promotional materials, and digital organization. Together, her technical and creative experience allows her to help build a Darkling Press that is as carefully constructed behind the scenes as it is distinctive on the page.
